Blair’s Banana cake with Passionfruit Icing

Blair’s Banana cake with Passionfruit Icing

I made this cake for my son Blair for every one of his 29 happy years and do it each year on his birthday since we lost him to Acute Myleoid Leukaemia. The optional insert in this tin, making a big donut or ring shape, is in memory of a tin my Mum had and also ensures even cooking with no soggy middle.

The profit from sales of this cake tin go to the Blair Milan Memorial Scholarship in association with Charles Sturt University.

Serve: 16+
Preparation: 25 minutes
Cooking: 60 minutes

Ingredients:

250g butter, softened
2 cups (440g) firmly packed brown sugar
2 eggs
2 cups (300g) plain flour
1 ¼ cups (185g) self-raising flour
1 2/3 teaspoons bicarbonate of soda
1  2/3 cups mashed banana (4-5  large ripe bananas)
¼ cup (60ml) milk

Passionfruit Icing
1 ½ cups (240g) icing sugar mixture
3 teaspoons soft butter
1 ½  tablespoon passionfruit pulp (1 – 2 large passionfruit)

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to moderate (180°C). Grease Blair’s 25cm round cake tin with special ring insert.
2. Beat the butter and sugar in a small bowl with an electric mixer until fluffy. Add the egg and beat until combined.
3. Stir in the sifted dry ingredients then the banana and milk. Spread the mixture into the prepared pan. Bake in a moderate oven for about 60 minutes. Leave in tin 10 mins. Turn onto a wire rack to cool.
4. Passion fruit Icing: Sift the icing sugar into a heatproof bowl. Stir in the butter and passionfruit to form a firm paste. Stir the icing over a pan of simmering water (or microwave on HIGH for about 20 seconds) until the icing is a pouring consistency. Use immediately and spoon over the cooled cake, allow to set.

Lyndey’s Note: Over-ripe bananas are perfect for this recipe. Whenever I have any bananas going brown, I throw them in the freezer until next time I want to make this banana cake.